Ships are seen at Salif port in Yemen’s western Red Sea province of al-Hudaydah on May 13, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

A Yemeni maritime official says the Saudi-led coalition has impounded more than a dozen ships carrying energy derivatives and food destined for the conflict-plagued and impoverished Arab country, despite the fact that the vessels had earlier acquired necessary permits from the United Nations.

The unnamed official at Hudaydah port told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on Thursday that 14 tankers loaded with more than 320 thousand tons of oil derivatives and three vessels with foodstuff aboard have been marooned at a port in Djibouti.

He added that the vessels had undergone inspection by the United Nations and obtained the relevant papers to dock at Yemen’s Hudaydah port.

The remarks came a day after the Saudi-led coalition, which has been engaged in a brutal five-year-old military aggression against Yemen, declared a two-week ceasefire, and announced that it would take effect at 12 p.m. local time (0900 GMT) on Thursday.

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has, in return, downplayed the Saudi-led coalition’s ceasefire announcement, describing it as a chance for the alliance to get out of the quagmire with minimum disgrace. The movement highlighted it would will not abide unless a years-long siege on the impoverished nation is lifted.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior member of the political bureau of the Ansarullah movement, told the Lebanon-based and Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network that the coalition’s move to announce a ceasefire was just another ploy by the aggressors.

“Saudis have repeatedly declared ceasefire in Yemen, but have violated it every time,” he noted.

Bukhaiti said Riyadh is using the outbreak of COVID-19 as an opportunity for ceasefire and a face-saving exit from the Yemen war.

However, he added, with the siege of Yemen in place, the war will not end.

“If any ceasefire does not include the removal of the siege on Yemen, that would be the continuation of the Saudi war,” he noted.

Houthis unilaterally release 70 prisoners

Separately, the Ansarullah movement has unilaterally released dozens of Saudi-sponsored Yemeni militiamen loyal to the country’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The head of the Houthi-affiliated National Committee for Prisoners Affairs (NCPA), Abdulqader al-Mortada, said in a post published on his official Twitter page on Thursday that 70 prisoners were set free on humanitarian grounds and handed over to local authorities in a number of provinces amid the coronavirus pandemic.